Corvette Garage in Florida - Garages For Collector Corvettes

A Hurricane-Proof Retirement Garage That Will Blow You Away

This month, we are continuing our Garages for Collector Corvettes series. From the overwhelming positive response we received from our first article on John Hinckley's garage, we hope to be running these for quite some time. Many of us are fans of great garages, and lots of us are always trying to improve our own garage's function. To this end, these ongoing articles will feature garages with emphasis on how their owners improved the garages' function, solved various problems, and so on. Whether you are currently planning your dream garage or just improving your current Corvette's abode, our goal with this series is that what we discuss will inspire you and give you solutions to your garage plans.

3/21

Mike and Daryl Hicks of Davie, Florida, are the owners of the incredible garage you see here. Mike owns a commercial forming company that specializes in building high-rise building shells. Mike currently owns six Corvettes and three Vipers (but we won't hold that against him). His '62 Red Fuelie is a Top Flight/Bloomington Gold car. He also owns a '66 427/390 A/C convertible and a '67 435 coupe. Both of these cars are prestigious Duntov award cars. His '67 435 convertible, '69 L-88 convertible, and '71 LS6 coupe are also all Top Flight/Bloomington Gold cars. His Viper "den" consists of two '00 Viper RT/10s and an '03 Viper RT/10. It is safe to say that plenty of horsepower resides in this serious stable.

4/21

Mike tells us, "In our previous home, we had a detached garage with an office and a bathroom that was about 1,500 square feet. Like most garages, over time, it became too small as our Corvette collection grew. Soon there was no room to work on the cars or for our friends to come over for a visit. My original garage was so tight you had to move two cars to get one out of the garage.

5/21

"So when a certain parcel of land became available, we decided to build our retirement home a little early. Being in the construction business, we naturally designed and built it ourselves. We decided that my wife Daryl would design the house, and I would build it. I would design the garage and build it, with free advice available from her upon request.

6/21

"I wanted a garage where I could work on anything I own. But I also wanted a nice clean showroom type of atmosphere to show off the cars, my memorabilia, and a place for my car buddies to come over and comfortably hang out. It also had to be big enough to house a future motor home. Living in the hurricane state of Florida, I also wanted to build a garage that could withstand whatever Mother Nature decided to dish out.

7/21

Front of the garage. Note the motorhome section on the far left.

"I now have the perfect garage as I envisioned it prior to the build. A big part of the garage is a 22-foot driveway between five cars on each side with enough room to expand my collection in the future. The driveway serves as a great dance floor when we have neighborhood sock hops. Everybody just loves the atmosphere when the lights are off and the neon lights are on, with all of us surrounded by old Corvettes. So I guess it's a garage, a showroom, and a party place. What more can you ask for?"

Do you know of a killer garage you would like to see featured in Corvette Fever? You can nominate that garage by sending an e-mail to corvettefever.features@primedia.com. The only requirement is that the owner has to own at least one Corvette.

MORE PHOTOS

Mike has lots of memorabilia including these restored gas pumps inside the overhead door.

The garage also has a custom-built air changer and carbon-monoxide alert system.

These are 10-inch U-channels. Mike welded a lug on them that fits into the lift arms. These enable him to put his John Deere lawn tractor on the lift to service it. Way cool!

The special wall brackets were made to store a set of five original '66 gold line tires and four original '69 Goodyear redlines. It consists of a steel plate bolted to the exterior block wall with 6x11/42-inch Hilti quick bolts. It has two metal gussets welded on it with a 48-inch piece of 2-inch pipe made to swivel back and forth for easier access. It keeps the tires off the floor and out of harms way.

The garage also has a custom-built air changer and carbon-monoxide alert system.

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